Back Again
by Aldera Bright
Summary: Brianna gets a cold. Rick insists upon a trip to the ER to see Drew, just incase. A bit of romance between Bree and (OC) Caleb. Plot suggested by Lexi. Oneshot.


Brianna started coughing during dinner. She'd successfully hid her stuffy nose all day, but this was going to get flagged.

"Are you okay?" Rick was instantly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she took a sip of water trying to play it off. "I'm choking on my own spit."

He frowned. "You sure about that? It sounded like it was coming from your lungs, not your throat."

"What do you know? You're not a doctor."

"No, but I do have to take care of my men in the field and I have had a cold before."

She rolled her eyes. "I have new lungs. These ones it's okay. Just because I have a cold doesn't mean I have bronchitis or am about to get pneumonia."

"Bree, you're on all kinds of immunosuppressants. You don't just get 'colds.'"

"Maybe I do now. These lungs are good. Haven't had a problem yet."

"I'd feel much better if we took you in to see Dad. Maybe it's nothing. But maybe it's something."

"But Pops!"

"No buts. Take care of it now, no harm, no foul. Let's finish eating dinner and then we'll go."

"I have homework!"

"And you can do it just as easily at the hospital."

"No I can't. I'll get stuck talking to people and then nothing will get done."

"Bree, it's not going to be that bad. We'll go in, they'll do the spirometry, they'll listen, no poking, I would doubt even a nebulizer. Doubt, not guarantee," he clarified.

Bree pointedly stabbed at another bite of lasagna. "Fine."

They finished dinner and then Bree went and grabbed her backpack out of her room. She contemplated packing an overnight bag just incase. "No Bree, this time, you're only going to be there for an hour or two. It's just a check-in, an unexpected one, but still just a check-in," she told mirror-Bree. She felt her body and her lungs closely, letting herself take a couple of deep breaths. No, it didn't feel like early bronchitis or anything severe. It probably really was just a cold. Not a big deal when your lungs were 100%.

She walked back downstairs. "Okay, let's go."

They headed to the hospital, going through the ambulatory entrance as was typical.

"Hey Rick, Hey Bree!" Jordan greeted them.

"Hey! Is Drew around?" Rick wanted to know.

"Yeah, he's with a patient but should be out any second."

Drew came out moments later. "My two favorite people," he hugged Bree and then hugged Rick.

Rick handed him a tupperware container of the lasagna they'd been eating. "Brought you dinner."

"Yum. Thanks!"

"I made it," Bree grinned. "Like not just put it in the oven, but actually made it."

His jaw dropped. "And you two are here, so clearly it wasn't poisonous. Or was it?"

"No, it was delicious!" Rick emphasized.

"It was pretty good, if I do say so myself," Bree admitted.

"So are you only in here to bring me dinner, or is there something else?"

"Someone managed to hide that they woke up with a cold."

"But her voice is still normal."

"Thought I should bring her in, just to check."

"Rick, this is the equivalent of me making you come in because you scraped your nub."

"Which you always do."

"It could get infected. You don't want to lose the rest of your leg."

Bree smiled to herself as her dads argued.

"And I don't want her to need another new set of lungs. She's been fine for months, but it's December, there were a ton of people at the state championship game, better safe than sorry."

"I've trained you well," Drew grinned. "C'mon, let's go check this out," he gestured her behind a curtain. "I'll be right back." He had to grab some pulmonary equipment.

Bree handed Rick her bag and then took a seat on the gurney. "All of a sudden it feels like I never left."

"But you did leave. You haven't been in here in months except for actual appointments."

She shook her head. "The last hospital stay was weird. I came in because of a car accident that killed my last foster mom. I had pneumonia and nowhere to go anyway, so I stayed. Then my lungs crapped out, and it turned out she really was my _last foster mom_ because by the time I got a transplant and recovered, I'd been adopted. I left the hospital and went to a better place. Forever," she smiled at the two of them. "And not in the way I expected."

"It's a good story," Drew nodded, back with the supplies. "I for one, am partial to it."

"Me too," Rick agreed.

Drew looked in Bree's ears, nose, and throat, listened to her lungs, and then did the spirometry testing. He stood back and looked at her seriously. "I'm between a rock and a hard place. I think you're fine. I know I'm supposed to trust these lungs. I tracked down the medical records of the person that had them before and they're fine. He wasn't sick very often. You haven't had any problems with your immune system so far, but… I would feel better with a course of antibiotics and a couple of nebulizer treatments."

"Do these lungs even know what a nebulizer is?" Bree wanted to know.

"Probably not, luckily I know you're more than familiar with how they work."

"How about this: if you do the nebulizer treatments and take the course of antibiotics, we'll let you go to school tomorrow. If you want to wait and see, you miss school tomorrow," Rick suggested.

"It's fine. I'll do the antibiotics and nebulizer. Better safe than sorry. But can you just give me the vials so I can have the treatments at home?"

"Absolutely."

They still had the nebulizer that had been with Bree through every foster home in the past. She hadn't had to use it since getting her new lungs, but… It was one of the few things that she'd always had.

"Just five days of a Azythromycin," Drew nodded.

"Two pills the first day and then one a day for four days after that," Bree replied dutifully.

"You got it. I'll go place the order from the pharmacy, we'll get it down here, and you'll be on your way." He reached out and hugged Bree tightly, kissing the side of her head. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Sounds good."

Drew reached for his husband next, hugging him tightly and planting a quick peck on his lips. "Good job Dad."

"Thanks."

The three walked out and Bree saw Shannon with her back turned, so she went running over and hugged her from behind. "Surprise!"

"Hey!" Shannon turned around, planting a kiss on the side of Bree's head. "How are you? What brings you in?"

"Just a cold. Azythro and a couple of nebs, just incase."

"How was the state championship game?"

"Amazing! Caleb got to be in on a couple of plays. Nothing major, but still cool for a freshman."

"And how is that going?"

Bree rolled her eyes. "It's fine. I'm trying to play it chill at school. He gets so much attention and it's the last thing I want, so…"

"You're just like Drew."

"That's what Pops says. He says I should enjoy Caleb wanting to hold my hand in the hallway and stuff, but… Not yet. We've only been going out officially like two months."

"Two months is a long time when you're 15."

She shook her head. "I've told him we can be Facebook official when it's been six months."

"And he's fine with that?"

"Yeah, he doesn't care."

"And we don't need to have any other talks?"

"Oh god, like every time he comes over he's like 'we're staying in the living room, we're a foot apart' and I'm like 'just kiss me you jerk' and he's like 'Nope.' Yeah, see I want to makeout with him, and I think he secretly wants to makeout with me, but… You try having a dad that trains and leads the stupid SWAT team."

"He wants to makeout with you," Rick confirmed.

"Have you done the gun cleaning thing yet?" Shannon looked at Rick.

"Twice. I remember what it's like to be a teenage boy."

"I get ONE brief good night kiss. Not their rules, Caleb's rules," Bree complained.

"He's terrified of you guys," Shannon laughed.

"Yeah, he probably thought he'd have to deal with one dad. Nope. Two. Although to be fair, the guy is awesome. Dating my daughter? Less than awesome. But he's a good one, so far."

"Good to hear. It was good seeing you both."

"Likewise."

Bree and Rick went and hung out in Drew's office until he came by with the drugs. "Here you go. Take the two when you get home, do one of the nebs tonight and one tomorrow."

"Okay Dad. See you in the morning."

"I'll make you breakfast."

"It's a plan."

"Thanks again for the lasagna."

"For sure."

As Rick and Bree left the hospital, she looked at him. "We're leaving the hospital. And it's only been an hour," part of her was still surprised.

"Yup. You're a normal girl with normal lungs now."

"Do you think I should call Caleb and tell him that I came in?"

"You'd want to know if it was him."

"Truth." She called him and put it on speaker. "Hey, you're on speaker."

"Hey. What's up?"

"Head cold that I had earlier. Pops made me to go to the hospital. Dad gave me meds. But I'm totally fine, they're just precautionary."

"Bree has to do a nebulizer treatment tonight if you want to come over and keep her company," Rick realized. "We can pick you up on our way home."

"I don't know what that is, but sure."

"Okay, we'll be there in ten."

"I'll see you soon," Bree told him.

"Bye."

She ended the call. "What made you think of that?"

"Before your transplant, you swore that if you had one more neb you would die from boredom."

She shook her head, embarrassed. "I was such an overdramatic 14-year-old."

They picked Caleb up and then headed back to Casa de CAL.

"Home again home again, jiggity jig," Rick told the pair.

They went in and Bree headed immediately to the hall closet to pull the machine. "This thing has been with me for too long," she led Caleb into the family room, put it together, and plugged it in. She poured the initial vial of drops in and screwed on the cap, gesturing for Caleb to sit on the couch next to her. "I have to sit up straight and breathe deeply to get the meds into my lungs properly, but I always get distracted and start slouching."

"You won't slouch if we're playing MarioKart," he grinned.

"You better not let me win!" She grabbed the controllers and clicked a few remotes to get over to the game.

"I would never."

"I'll never let you win."

"We'll see about that."

An hour of MarioKart later, the treatment was over and Bree was happy. "Thanks for keeping me company," she told him.

"Any time."

"How was basketball practice?"

"It was good. I already miss football."

"Okay," she laughed.

"I mean, basketball is fun too, but… I'm a Texas guy. Football is king."

"Football is king," Rick came in. "How'd the neb go?"

"It was good."

"No dying of boredom?"

"No dying of boredom," she confirmed.

"Who won MarioKart?"

"We split 50/50," Caleb told him.

"Evenly matched. That's a good sign. Mind if I take a whack at it?"

"Pops, no."

"No c'mon, if he can beat me that's a good thing. He can't, but the closer he is the better."

Caleb couldn't walk away from a challenge like that. "Okay. But then home. We have early morning weights tomorrow."

Rick successfully beat Caleb in three rounds of MarioKart and Rick laughed. "Maybe next time."

"You didn't let him win did you?" Bree accused Caleb.

"Of course not. I'm a southern gentleman but video games are where I draw the line."

Bree and Rick gave Caleb a ride home and this time it was Bree walking Caleb up to the porch.

"We're so modern," he grinned at her.

"But since I'm walking you home, I dictate the terms."

"Bree."

She stood on her tiptoes and pulled him down, kissing him twice for a good five seconds each time. "Just count it as improving my lung capacity," she hugged him tightly afterwards.

He rolled his eyes as he hugged her back. "Bye Girlfriend."

"Bye Boyfriend."

 **Author's Notes:** Thanks to SheWolf  & Lexi for reviewing 'One Fall Morning.' XO. The story of 'Casa de CAL' coming soon. What do you think of Bree referring to Drew as "Dad" and Rick as "Pops"? I chose "Pops" because it's slightly punny, with him having a prosthetic leg that he can pop off. -Aldera B.


End file.
